Salvador Simó
Director and Screenwriter
Bio
Salvador Simó.
Salvador is a film director and scriptwriter. He started studying Animation at the American Animation Institute of Los Angeles in 1991 while also working at the Bill Melendez Prod Studio on a special Charlie Brown feature. When he returned to Europe he worked in the field of traditional animation for several companies, including Disney in Paris, where he lived for two years. Subsequently, he returned to Barcelona where he continued working for Disney and set up a studio that worked exclusively for that same company (Disney), during three years, while studying Film Directing at the CECC, and making a couple of shortfilms in animation, one of them in the Animation Workshop in Denmark where he worked as teacher for a year and a half. Thereafter, Salvador moved to London to work in MPC’s department of pre-visualisation & layout, in projects like Narnia, Prince Caspian, The Werewolf, Prince of Persia, and the James Bond movie Skyfall, where his knowledge on cinematography & animation opened many doors for him. In 2008 he began directing a cg animation series in Asia, eventually shooting over 500 minutes of film. Then, in 2014, MPC again offered him a job. This time as head of film sequences in the animation feature movie The Jungle Book, produced by Disney, as well as in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales. In 2016 he moved back to Spain to direct the Buñuel feature film project: Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles which premiered in October 2018 at the Animation Film Festival of Los Angeles, where he was awarded the Jury Prize.
Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles was also awarded in 2019 in the European Academy Film Awards for the Best European Animated Feature Film, and in the 34th Goya Awards for Best Animated Film where he was nominated into the category of Best New Director, and Awarded the Medal of CEC, Film Writers Medal, for the Best New Director, first time awarded an animated film.
In 2019 was the first time an animated film is on the shortlist, 3 candidates, to represent Spain in the Academy Oscar Awards in the category of International Film, sharing nomination with Pedro Almodóvar and Alejandro Amenábar.
In 2019 Salvador was awarded with the Cartoon Tribute to the Best European Director on 2019, and few months later won the Jury Award in the Annecy Festival .
In 2020 is awarded with the Platino Award from the Iberoamerican Cinema to the Best Animated Feature.
Later on Started to direct the feature film “Dragonkeeper” a CG coproduction between Spain and China, released in April of 2024 in Spain taking the first positions on the Spanish Box Office.
Meanwile directed a Tv special for Disney “Descendants, The Royal wedding”, a 2D Videogame Cinematic for MiHoYo´s Honkai Star Rail, and a Live action Short film, tited “La Autoestima".